Celebrating Our First Year

Read it over here: Hearts & Souls

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I'm in Tokyo

As the plane took off from Sahar International Airport, Mumbai I headed to another new country, towards the eastern most part of the globe, towards the land of rising sun, towards the magnificent Japan. It was a jumble of feelings inside me. I was sad because for first time after marriage we wouldn’t be able to see each other for so long. I was scared thinking about adjusting in a non-english speaking country. I was excited as this will be another new country to explore, in fact third country for me. And I was so sleepy because the flight took off at 6 o’clock in the morning.

As my Cathay Pacific aircraft ascended above the Mumbai thundering clouds, I had about 10-11 hours before me to kill. This was not a direct flight. I had to change the flight at Hong Kong and I was desperately hoping this flight to land on time as I had less than 2 hours for transit. My stomach started gurgling as soon as we reached the cruise altitude. No, not because of height but I started getting hungry. Finally, the beautiful red-polka dressed stewardess brought me my breakfast and as it landed on my meal tray I was digging into it until not a piece was left. Satiated, I sat back and decided to try a movie on the in-flight entertainment system. Many new movies were on. I decided on ‘Kung-Fu Panda’ (somehow Japan was already started getting into my systems). A good timepass for about two hours and I was already started feeling sleepy. The flight was quite comfy, everybody’s window shutter were down, AC was perfect, I had my quilt, seats were relaxing and in no time my eyes were closed and I was in dream world.

It was surprising that I was able to sleep for over an hour owing to the fact that I can hardly sleep while I’m traveling. But it was well needed sleep. We had already begun descent to Hong Kong International Airport. I opened up my window shutter and the weather was clear, sunny and pleasant. As the plane descended flying over the city, I was so mesmerized by the grandeur of Hong Kong. Whatever I had seen, read or heard about the city, it was perfectly in accord. The majestic skyline, the beautiful roads and sea-link bridges, the sparkling green water of South China Sea and myriad of ships, boats, cruisers etc sailing over it gave me quite extraordinary view from thousands of feet above ground. Only I didn’t had the camera ready in my hand at that moment. I would have got some excellent shots.

The Hong Kong airport was as beautiful as the city looked from above. Comparable to London Heathrow but not as crowded and busy than former. My flight was in another one hour and forty minutes. As soon as the boarding started I realized that I’m surely going to Japan. All around me there were Japanese people only. While coming from Mumbai, there were quite a number of Indians or people of different races. But here the scene was entirely different. I could make out about only 5-6 people of different origin amongst the bunch. Even the English accent of flight stewardesses started to sound incomprehensible. I took one of them to repeat the question thrice before I got the gist of it. Anyways, again my stomach needed food and luckily I was one of the first few to get the lunch. I relished the food to the fullest, especially the sweet dish which contained 4 gulab jamuns. Ymmmm.

By the time we were over islands of Japan, it was pitch dark and I could make out that it is quite cloudy too. Many times I could see some fierce lightning over some places. Fortunately, it was not that bad when we landed at Narita International Airport. The immigration check didn’t take much time because I think this was the only flight that landed at that time. But it took almost an hour for the baggage to arrive. I knew I will face problem getting a transport to my apartment at this time and I was quite right. The regular Airport Bus Service was done for the day and I didn’t know the train system over here. Eventually I decided to spend almost 27 K yen for a cab direct from airport to my place.

It was post-midnight hour when I entered Tokyo and the city looked amazing. I was especially impressed by the road infrastructure. It was such an intricate web of roads and flyovers that any person without a GPS system in his car will easily get lost. At one time there were at least four level of flyovers one upon other. Tokyo represents the true essence of a mega-city. I’m sure going to be getting more and more impressed by the city in my coming 5 wks of tenure here.

With a little difficulty the taxi driver was finally able to drop me at my place of stay. As I entered my apartment I was a little disappointed by the size of it. It was just one straight room with a kitchen area, living area and a bed and an attached bath. There was one bed up at attic which was kind of cute. But for a single person I was quite satisfied with it finally. It had all the facilities needed for survival. Although TV doesn’t show anything except Japanese channels, I’m glad that internet connection is there for entertainment. I have killed today’s time with sleeping most of the time. From Monday starts the work for which I have come over here. I don’t know how much hectic its gonna be but if its hectic its good for me as that will keep me busy.

Sayo-Nara.

Aye Has It ....

Aye Has It. Aye Has It.
Was the cry of Lok Sabha Speaker as he declared the results of the most popular trust vote in history of Indian democracy. I was following the Lok Sabha session the minute I reached home after office. And what a comedy show it was. Those were the leaders of our country making a sheer mockery of Lok Sabha. Was there any maturedness, any decensy, any sense of responsibility shown by them? None. All I could see was bunch of rowdies throwing brickbacks at each other, slurring each other's images, holding baseless allegations against each other and hoping that lakhs of Indian citizens who are tuned to their TV sets are going to vote for them in next elections. Whether it was UPA or NDA or Left, they are all riders of the same boat. Indian people are nothing more than mere vote banks for them on which they want to cash on as much as possible. The real motive of the parliamentary debate and corresponding trust vote was long lost somewhere under those benches somewhere. I wonder if even half of our esteemed politicians had any idea about the topic of debate. All they had in mind was whether the government will sustain or shatter. If you had asked what the world nuclear means, they would have gladly translated it into Hindi as 'Parmanu' but wouldn't know anything beyond that. And If some intelligent person (which is rare in that flock) tries to explain the pros or cons of it, they will shut him/her up. It was unbelievable. It was comedy just because it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see our distinguished MPs create such a scene. It was unbelievable to see the disrespect for even our PM when they didn't allow him to give his speech. It was unbelievable when some of them brought bundles of cash in the Sabha.

But I still watched it till the end because I wanted to believe in this. But couldn't.

Why so serious, son?

Joker in a heavy duty truck speeding down the road and Batman in his all-black Batpod racing in the opposite direction with full determination to stop Joker. They are on track for a full head-on collision, when suddenly Batman swerves his Batpod, fires something to the truck, goes under and around it and the lampposts tangling the monster in a web of ropes. The huge monster takes a plunge in the air and come crashing down, thus ending the high speed chase. Batman maneuvers his Batpod on rear wheel, turns around and again speed towards the crashed truck to confront Joker. This was one of the many amazing scenes in the Warner Bros latest superhero movie ‘The Dark Knight’. After a long time I have come out of the cinema hall thoroughly satisfied and mesmerized. This movie is totally a work of art by Christopher Nolan which will definitely be filed in Hollywood records as one of the best movies of the year, of the decade and of the century.

Breath-taking performance by late Heath Ledger was the selling point of the film. It was the darkest portrayal of any villain ever in the role of ‘The Joker’, the arch enemy of Batman. Critics and fans have already reserved one nomination for Best Actor role for Oscars next year and this time it is going to be first very posthumous nomination. Ledger totally overshot the performance of Jack Nicholson in his last role of Joker. Alas, this talented actor is no more. I wonder who is going to fill in Ledger’s shoes in subsequent Batman sequels.

Christian Bale had already proved that he is best suited for Batman’s outfit in previous ‘Batman Begins’ and this performance just reasserted that claim. Batman continued his internal fight with Bruce Wayne while externally facing the wrath of Joker and in later part of Harvey Two-Face. The question whether Gotham City needs a masked hero or a real face tormented Batman throughout the movie forcing him to put Batman on the run in the end. A brilliant performance by Bale and here is another talented actor.

The direction was superb. The whole plot was excellent. Special effects were jaw dropping. It was not like any other super hero movie with a hero and villains but it was much more than that. Nolan has made an epic over here. The dialogues were awesome especially those delivered by Joker. All-in-all it was worth my money spent and my eyes strained sitting in the front row (I wasn’t able to get any other seats). I’m definitely going to watch it one more time.

Go guys, don’t miss the movie at any cost.

My First Infy Open House

Even years of years of experience can’t teach etiquettes or bring a hint of maturity in some people. Infy’s one of employees displayed it quite successfully in front of some thousands people and most importantly in front of the most revered person in today’s entrepreneurial world, Mr. Narayan Murthy. It was embarrassing to see a 8 year experience software professional first interrupting Mr. Murthy in middle of his dialogue and then asking the most stupid question that anyone can ask in a company’s open house session. I had thought these sessions serve the purpose to address their queries, grievances or inputs directly to the topmost management and hearing their response then and there. But I guess this was wholly changed by that immature person by asking questions such as ‘Will we able to catch our bus after this?’ or ‘Was there a forest before this campus was constructed?’. And that is not all, after asking his dim-witted questions he had the audacity to run outside uttering ‘I have to catch my bus’ through the mike to everyone’s hearing.

But let’s leave him aside. This episode didn’t change the rest of the assembly. I was quite looking forward to attend this as I wanted to see the man in person myself. And so did most of my other thousand odd colleagues too because as Mr. Murthy entered everybody rose from their seats, pushing people around to catch a glimpse. He is definitely a celebrity in the IT universe. And why not as in 27 years he has put Infosys on the global IT map as one of the most reputed software firm. Starting with Rs 10,000 and 7 employees, it is now a 5 billion $ company with employee strength touching 100,000. But the man himself is a legend, an idol for most of today’s budding entrepreneurs.

Mr. Murthy spoke in length how he had started Infosys in Pune in 1981 and where the company has reached in 2008 and what it is going to achieve in 2018. He has a way to address the young crowd of Infosys which just binds everyone to shut up and listen to the visionary man at the dais in front of them. With little anecdotes about his personal life intermingled with his professional experience, he kept everyone listening. I especially liked the way he started his speech by reminiscing that 33 years back in Pune he was busy chasing his girl which now most of us would be doing now. That is the way to touch the young nerve, to make them like you in first few words and to make them hear rest all what he has to say.

At that moment, watching scores of Infoscions around me gathered to hear their chairman and chief mentor, for the first time in my career, made me feel happy and proud for the company I’m working for. No other CEO or MD or Chairman of any of my prior organization had such an effect, had such a charisma, and had such a larger that life persona as Mr. Murthy. And in none of those companies I have seen its employees enthusiastic to attend open house sessions.

New Blog

Do visit my new blog: http://ksitsme.blogspot.com

A Welcome Escape

Read about our latest trip to Kashid and Murud-Janjira at:

http://lothikakshitiz.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome-escape.html

Farewell to Vishal

This was a long awaited trip to Pune and may be the last one for a very very long time. As Vishal is flying to US in few weeks, there will be no reason to visit the city. Pune is a city that I have liked very much especially because of its climate and food. And since one of my best friend was also that city dweller, it gave me more than one reason to visit the city from time to time. So there I was during my last weekend to bid farewell to him. We decided to celebrate this get-together by visiting a nice getaway point near Pune - Sinhgad Fort.

It all started with a 4 hour Mumbai-Pune drive which I was so much looking forward to test my new Maruti Swift. With Lothika and Gurpreet I reached Pune, picked Vishal and went straight to our fun weekend. It was a rather bumpy ride towards the Fort but the destination was amazing. Away from Mumbai heat it was totally refreshing in that rainy and cloudy weather.

Our main reason was not to visit the Fort but to get into a good resort and start the party. Nobody was tired, so we got straight to the business. Took out our 'Black Dog' and drank till mid-night. It was accompanied by some nostalgic talk about good old college days. Lothika's birthday coincided with the trip and we celebrated it in a grand way.

Next day, it was time for some site-seeing. The drive up to the Sinhgad Fort was made beautiful with some mesmerising view of the valley below. There was nothing much of a Fort remaining. It was almost in ruins. As Shivaji is most revered in Maharashtra, his Fort holds a religious kind of significance among Maharashtrians. Being Sunday, the place was flooded with people. Some came driving, while some took some adventurous route by trekking up to the Fort. May be I'll take that route too some time in future.

Anyways, after absorbing much of the picturesque view in our minds, we headed back to Pune. It was time to say good-bye to our dear friend. No matter he was a few hundred kilometers away, we used to meet often. It was always fun and frolic whether we was here or I was there. I am definitely going to miss him a lot. And I could see that he was also rather sad on leaving Pune and India. I hope the very best for his future in US and wish that he finds his long searched life partner in that country.

Adiós, Vishal Rana.

Memoirs of My Childhood - Those Games We Played

If I burrow into my memories further and further back, the earliest recollection of my life is that of my birth city Jammu. I can without doubt recall some of my early childhood days in my family’s ancestral house located in that city. That address of 49 B/B Gandhi Nagar Jammu, consisting of three bed-rooms, one living room, one kitchen, one splendid green lawn with a small kitchen garden and an immense verandah, is the abode with which I strongly connect. Even when my father was posted outside Jammu, visiting that house during vacations always enticed me. It was not just about the house only, but the city itself was a major attraction and is still one of my favorite cities. This first part of the series describe some of childhood days in that house.

During my early days, we were five occupants of the house: dadi (my grand-mother), mom, dad, chacha (my father’s brother) and, of course, me. I can dimly recollect our Labrador that we used to have, called as Ceelu. And I was afraid of that dog. So I don’t have very warm memories of him except that he was all black and, now I that I think of his actions, the most decent pet dog. I might have grown affectionate towards him if he had survived a little longer till I was seven or eight. They say that I used to spend most of the time in the big verandah at the front. As far as I remember, everyone else also used to spend most of their time in that area. I know I needed nobody for company because I was pretty much capable of occupying myself in my toys.

As years went by, number of dwellers of that house kept increasing. My brother was born, chacha got married and subsequently their two children were born. And as we all grew up together, that verandah was no longer my sole territory. Now there were cricket matches in that quarter and numerous new games were invented in that verandah, or that lawn, or anywhere within the perimeter of that old white house.

Then there was the roof-top without any side barriers for protection and which was connected through broken stairs. It was the destination during kite-flying season. I remember when that stair came down right in front of my eyes. I saw a mass of cement and bricks falling down and my dad landing on top of that. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt but thinking back it was a funny scene. How he escaped unhurt through the iron rods of broken stairs is beyond my understanding. Afterwards, it was totally prohibited to go to that already restricted space without any supervision.

Those stairs were not the only thing that came down. Our neighbors were almost like a family. My chacha and their eldest son had grown up together and were best of friends and consequently their eldest sons also turned out to be very close friends. On one stormy night as we were busy watching TV inside, we heard a loud bang. The wall connecting the two houses had come down just like the stairs but unlike stairs it didn’t involve any human being. The wall like the stairs was never re-built, as long as we lived in that house. Surely, it gave us unlimited access to more ground for inventing new games.

I being the eldest of all was the leader in all those games except in few occasions when my elder cousin was visiting us when I had to give up that position. Sometimes, it was cricket or football match in the lawn or sometimes it was plain old hide-n-seek. But surely, every time there was a scolding from my grandmother for ruining the kitchen garden one way or the other. Later that garden cease to exist as it was impossible to control 4-5 children trampling the newly laid plants or saplings. Those were fun days whether it was scorching June heat or chilling January cold.

Those games are long gone from everybody’s memory. As we grew up, four of us moved out as it was getting small for two families. And few years later we sold that house. Nobody has been able to reconstruct it till date. It is still standing in its decrepit condition on those grounds. The wall is now built, though. But I’m not sure if the stairs met the same fate.

Grudgingly Grudgeful

I haven't seen the first volume of this movie but I had heard some scary reviews of it. So, thinking that since first volume was so bone-chilling, the second volume is ought to be further bone-chilling, goose-bumping and hair-rising experience. As I haven't seen any good horror movie recently, I went to see Grudge 2. But what I found out in the whole movie was a pale blue face with a big eye and overgrown hairs popping out from anywhere and dragging everybody with itself. This, I didn't find scary at all.

The story line was same as the first volume where-in anybody who visits a haunted house located in Tokyo, gets a grudge on himself or herself. Whereas the first movie concenterated on the people in and around that house, in the second one The Grudge has travelled international. There was no story line in the whole movie but everybody who is anybody gets in contact with this Grudge thing and eventually dies. The thing pulls the person with her into unknown and can come out of anywhere even within your clothes. I couldn't help myself laughing during some of the sequences.

All-in-all the movie was disappointed. However, I have come to know that some people really got scared watching this movie. Good for them, I guess. But I'm sure that the producer is already thinking of making a Grudge 3 with Grudge spreading over the whole world. What a pathetic movie will that be!!!

Movies this Weekend

Watching movies over the weekend is my favorite timepass. Starting from today I'll be posting my personal reviews for the movies that I had watched preceeding weekend.

Die Hard 4.0

This was one action-packed movie. Being a long-time Die Hard fan, I was exactly looking for the same. John McLain (played by Bruce Willis) came back with a bang with his usual luck of getting into middle of trouble, unknowingly. First time it was a corporate building hijack, then an airport hijack, afterwards a bomb threat across city and this time it was a country-wide cyber scare. And as everytime, he clashed with the bad guys full-on and presented the audience with some larger than life stunts on air and ground alike. After a long time I have seen a pure action movie and it just made my adrenalin rushing from head to toe. Its a must watch movie if you are a fan of mindless, impossible and whooping stunts. I hope they are planning another Die Hard sequel soon. Admit it, it is the year of Hollywood sequels.

Apne

The other movie that I saw was Apne. I had doubts about this movie before its release since the last movie by the same director Anil Sharma was a total bogus. So I waited for its review. Reading and listening some good remarks, I went for it on Saturday. The verdict - a one-time must-watch movie. Since this year, many movies have been large disappointments, this was one breather. The Deol Trio was amazing on the screen and the Baap - Dharmendra Bhaji totall overshadow the performances of anybody else. Fitted with some well-shot Boxing Fight sequences along with family emotions, it was a total entertainer. Sunny and Bobby looked brilliant in boxing shorts with their physique of a pure Punjabi Jatt. The music was a backlog, though, but thankfully movie was not full of irrelevant songs. So I was saved by continuous torutre by Himesh Reshamiyya. All-in-all, a comeback film for all the Deols.

Trip Within the Clouds

Away from the scorching heat of Mumbai, we decided to get some chill by rising about 4,400 feet above sea level in hills and valleys of Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. So it was me, Dad, Mom, Rikki (my bro) and Moni (my fiancee) driving away on friday evening to enjoy a quite and cool weekend away from the daily hustle-bustle. It was a pleasant experience. We were literally living in middle of clouds. Nobody wanted to come down on Sunday. But we surely captured the scenic beauty and some pleasant moments together in these pictures.

Click here to view album on picasa.

Monsoon Memories

With a loud bang, my room’s door closed. I woke up to find that it was just 3:30 at night. It was still dark outside. But there was something different in the air. There was a soothing effect in the wind that was blowing in through the open window that had smashed the door. There was that lovely odor in the air. I knew that odor. The odor when fresh rain falls on the heated dry earth. I love that odor. Drawing my curtains apart, I glanced out of the window. Yes, it was raining. Finally, it was raining. Thank God, it was raining. The weather had suddenly turned pleasant and cold and I wanted to enjoy it fully. So I stood at the window for few minutes. And my thoughts backtracked to all the monsoons that I have faced in Mumbai during last three years.

Each year, when it rains for first time, you feel elated. It is always a refreshing feeling when you see water coming down the sky and dissipating all the heat from the earth. This feeling prevails for next few days or weeks. To enjoy this ecstasy, you look for reasons to get wet somehow, or you plan trips to nearby hill stations. This is what we did one of the past three years. It was Saturday. My parents were out of station and after partying all night long with two of my friends (Vikram & Gurpreet), we were just hanging out at my place when suddenly it started thundering and pouring. All of our hangovers were gone in the instant. As the car was at our disposal, one of us suggested a trip to Lonavala. Hurrah! All things were decided in next half-an-hour. We also called up Vishal in Pune and asked him to directly join us there. That place is electrifying during monsoons and we took full advantage of it. Sitting on top of a hill, surrounded by clouds and sipping whiskey was one amazing experience. It turned out to be an excellent weekend.

But as I have said earlier, the monsoon ecstasy only lasts for initial few days. But often reaching office all wet and late by half-an-hour murders that ecstasy. Then by the middle of first month, you start to experience all the monsoon nightmares with water clogged roads, larger than life potholes and stink all around. I remember the 26th July deluge when unknowingly I got stuck while coming back from office. The half-an-hour distance was converted into awful 8 hours. I was thankful that I didn’t get drowned in any open gutter while I was traversing my distance on foot in waist-deep water. Also, I was thankful next day to find my bike as it is at the spot where I had left it previous day. That is another monsoon experience I will recall again and again.

Last year’s monsoon was the best. It rained but not that much to make you stuck inside your home. Also, during that period I had Lothika with me. So it was more fun to enjoy the rains with her. The first day it rained, I was on my way to her place. I got completely drenched on my bike but managed to reach the destination. Then, there was the day when we decided to make a trip to Lonavala (yes, the same place again) on bike but had to cancel it when the whole sky came pouring down. We had one successful trip, though. That was to Matheran with Gurpreet and Deepti. Matheran is always a treat to eyes during the rains. Although, it was a one-day trip we had quite a good time hiking around in the hill station.

It was 4:00 in the clock now. I went back to sleep, feeling good about onset of monsoon and thinking how to enjoy it next day.

But as my alarm went off at 6:00, I could feel that it was not same as it was few hours ago. It was bright and sunny and hot. The monsoon was not there yet. It is going to make us wait for few days more before I again revisit the memories of last three year’s monsoon.

What a Start!!!

Three races - three different winners. It is, obviously, going to be some whooping Formula 1 season. Ferrari and Mclaren, both, are in neck-to-neck position in the constructor's championships points. And talking about driver's championship there is an interesting tie between Raikkonnen, Alonso and rookie Hamilton. Even the Brazilian Massa is not far behind them at the fourth position. Also mentionable is the performance of BMW team till now. BMW's German drive Hiedfeld is just two points behind Massa. You should expect some surprises in forth-coming races.
Bahrain Grand Prix was the most enthralling and nerve-racking race till now. Felipe Massa maintained his qualifying pole position till he triumphantly crossed the chequered flag. Not far behind him was this year's debutant Lewis Hamilton in silver arrows who gave his best to break Massa during the final laps. It was well evident from gestures of jubilant Brazilian as he managed to maintain the front position at the end of last lap. Raikkonnen maintained the second runner-up position from Malaysian Grand Prix. But I'm sure he is going to show us some fireworks for rest of the season.

Although, it was a disappointing race for Fernando Alonso after his win in Malaysia, but he is the reigning world champion and he won't go down so easily. He is expected to enchant the audience in his home Grand Prix next month. It is a long break for drivers before the Spanish Grand Prix to regain themselves and for teams to take those mighty cars to some higher levels.

Nick Hiedfeld also gave some stunning performance in his BMW, finishing one position ahead of champion Alonso. BMW has shown some remarkable improvement in the cars this year and both of its drivers Hiedfeld and Kubica are fast and in control on the race tracks. With their fourth and sixth positions respectively they have geared BMW team to third position in constructor’s rankings. After BMW is last year champion team Renault and then Toyota. Both of teams are also good and have some brilliant drivers to entertain us for the rest of the season.

I’m excited about rest of the season and unlike other seasons, this time it is hard to guess the champion at this moment. Who is your pick – Alonso, Raikkonnen, Massa or Hamilton? Don’t miss the 2007 Formula 1 season to find out.

Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmm

Driving Blues

It is a bright sunny day. In the fifth gear of your car, you are swiftly and smoothly driving on the city roads in your best ever humor. Your favorite music is giving repose to your mind and body. You are engaged in an animated conversation with your partner on next seat. There is no sound but the sound of music and your conversation. You can’t help yourself to step on the accelerator more and more as you see wide, unhindered and spotless road in front of you. Outdoor scenery is giving solace to your eyes and you just wish that this could go on and on forever.

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Abruptly, you break out of your reverie. It is a bright sunny day, but even the air conditioner is not helping to cool you of the tension. Although, you have your car stereo blasting away, the only sound you can hear is roaring of engines and incessant and unnecessary honking. The person on next seat is speaking something but you are so diverted to avoid hitting somebody that it is impossible to hear her. You are stepping more and more on brakes than accelerator. You can’t remember when was the last time you were driving in your best ever humor. Wide, unhindered, spotless, smooth, swift etc; those adjectives are no longer understandable by you. You just wish to reach your destination as soon as possible. Hence, you break out of your reverie and you recognize that you are in MUMBAI.

I love Mumbai. I really do. But whenever I’m out on its roads, nobody can help me cursing everybody and anybody that is around. I have lost the will to drive long way back. For me, commuting is the best way to practice new ways of cursing. You just can’t help yourself to say some offensive words to that BEST bus that is continuously honking behind you or to that auto-rickshaw driver who has just made a daring cut in front of you.

You want to drive on Mumbai roads. Keep in mind following tips:

1. BEST is the king. If you notice a BEST bus picking up passengers on a bus-stand while you are driving towards it, slow down. You don’t want to bang straight into this red beast as it makes a straight 45 degree turn coming out of the stand. They are the kings and you always make way for the kings.
2. Earplugs at traffic lights. You have stopped on a red-light and so has dozens of two, three, four or six wheelers around you. Don’t forget to plug your ears before lights turn green. You don’t want to turn deaf by honking that will start as soon as it happens. Apparently, the honker behind you believes that by some miracle honking will clear the road in front of him.
3. Auto-rickshaws cum Ferraris. Although it is rare, you may sometimes find an open road in front of you. But don’t be so happy because as soon as you have speed up your vehicle to 80 kmph, you will find a slow-moving auto-rickshaw in front of you pulling you back to 20 kmph. It’s not their fault. They are under impression that those tiny black things are miniature versions of Ferrari and nobody can overtake them.
4. Schumachers in taxis. Yes, that is true. The khaki dressed taxi drivers that you notice on Mumbai roads are actually clones of Michael Schumacher. Only the world Formula 1 champion can beat their skills of cutting across the lanes, swirling around in chaotic traffic or making their way through two vehicles. If only they are given a chance.
5. Holy roads. No, they are not blessed by almighty. But they are without doubt blessed by the BMC for creating so many pot-holes that your car can vanish in it and never be found till eternity. Dig and dig and dig and never fill up, is their motto.

And even if these aren’t helpful, come to me. I’ll give you a crash course on Best Practices for Driving in Mumbai. All you have to bring along is your driving license and a declaration, duly signed, that under no circumstances the trainer will be responsible for any unwarranted consequences during the tenure of the course. Optionally, if you know driving, that will be helpful too.

World Cup Dreams

A news channel was showing a story on India’s world cup win in 1983. I watched images of Kapil Dev lifting the trophy and thought to myself would I be lucky this year, to see same kind of footage but live on my television. Would team India be able to achieve the glory that they are seeking and that we, Indian cricket fans, are hoping after every four years? This was 17th March, 2007 and India was scheduled to play their first match.

10 days, thereafter, as the Indian team is knocked out of tournament, I am sitting here totally disappointed. It is not that I'm a big cricket fanatic. I rarely watch cricket matches on a regular basis. I prefer watching Formula 1 instead. But as the World Cup arrives, my interest in cricket regains. It is just the whole excitement that is built around this major tournament, which gets me into cricket gear since 1992. But this year has been most terrible. Although, we haven't won any world cup since 1983, but Team India had been able to show some good cricket reaching finals, or semi-finals. But nothing like this year, when they pathetically got knocked out in the first round of league matches.

The start of the tournament was itself a no-show. Loosing to Bangladesh, the team which ranks way below India, was the first sign. The whole team was lacking the main thing that is needed in modern day cricket - aggression. It was visible from the body language of the players on the field when they were trying to defend a pathetic score laid by poor batting performance. I wasted my whole night hoping that next delivery will do the tricks. But as I said it truly turned out to be shear waste of time.

Even after loosing, hopes were alive. So many calculations were done as to how India can reach the next round. Now, it was nothing but game of run-rate. But before that they have to beat Sri-Lanka. Playing against the first time entrant, Bermuda, the results were predictable. The team put up a great show that day beating and breaking many records. World Cup dreams were alive once again.

I was sad; I had to travel on the day of Indo-Lanka match. I followed the score as long as I was receiving signal on my FM radio while traveling in train. Late at night, I also came to know about the target that India had to chase. I became a little skeptical at that time only. I had expected a much lesser score. But hoping for best I went to sleep. As soon as I woke up, I took my mobile and send a request for score. SMS came, I read the score and it was all over for India. Now I was glad, I didn't cancel my trip to watch the game.

On reaching my destination, I got busy in other work that I was not able to follow the reviews and comments on newspapers or television. Neither, I wanted to hear or read it. But I did laugh a lot on hearing that some people died due to depression. Such is the craziness for this sport. For me, I was looking forward for some real good cricket by some of the best teams in world fighting in the next round. No matter, if our team was there or not. If we love cricket, we should enjoy it fully.

I was also well amused on hearing some reports that people were hoping that Bermuda wins over Bangladesh. C'mon people. Grow UP!!!

Ek Glassy, Do Glassy

My first encounter with alcohol was after finishing school. After gulping down a full bottle of beer amongst three of us, we were as happy as a father of new-born. It was a toast to much anticipated future college life. We were high just by thinking about it. But at the end of the day I was so petrified going home. If only my mother would have come to know, I would be writing this article from hell.

But, my first real experience of having that ultimate, heavenly, dizzy feeling of drunkenness came in my first semester in my college. That was the first night-out of our batch after two months of torturous ragging by seniors and non-stop schedule of lectures throughout the day. There were many experienced players in that bunch, but there were much more new-comers as well. Even the most experienced player was only 2-3 matches old. Experienced or not, everybody got clean bowled after finishing one beer bottle each. I was feeling so happy and relieved from tensions of studies. I knew that it was not the last time for me.

As we entered into our second semester, we were free from the chains of ragging and other restrictions that senior had imposed. Now it was time for me to go a level up, to get a taste of real drink - whiskey. After getting acclimatized to the taste of beer, there was no problem in swallowing whiskey with water. It was so much better than beer and still whiskey is my favorite drink amongst all. Afterwards, semester after semester, I kept discovering new drinks and new brands and savored them all.

And when I'm drunk I can converse on any topic for lengths. I might not be making sense but if everybody is else is also drunk like me; it will make whole lot of sense. I can give such speeches which could easily win me election for President of United States. Just I need to get started. In college, I always look forward to a drinks party just to have a chitchat on any topic. Otherwise, in a more sober state I'm more of a quite guy. I guess alcohol brings out the hidden person in everybody. Then there were times when a drinks party was necessary to mark any occasion no matter if it is sad or happy. Whether someone has given superb "Chak-De-Phatte" performance or terrible "Beda-Garak" performance, as the sun sets everybody was sitting at the same table having a drink or two.

Our group of nine was especially known as "No. 1" group. This title was not because we were some bunch of all-rounders who always stood at No. 1 position in every arena. But, unfortunately, it referred to a famous brand of whiskey at that time. Somehow we had gathered a false reputation of being No. 1 drunkards in the whole campus. I want this as proper opportunity to clarify to all those people (especially residents of girl's hostel), that we were not that bad. We were very sweet, innocent and cute bunch who tried to enjoy whatever that god-forsaken college had to offer. You would have liked us if you had given us a chance.

Well! We didn't bother about anything. And thus ended our four years of enjoyment in that totally lackluster college campus, when we came out of examination hall after last paper of last semester. But before we went our separate ways in search of a good life, we had a 3 days blast. And I needn't tell you who the chief guest in that blast was. Our good old "Daru ki Baatli".

After almost four years, I still remember each and every time we had a drinks party. I still remember, roughly, who all were present on those parties. I still remember the reason of each party. I still remember the aftermaths of each party. I still remember the two times when I was not able to recall anything about the party next morning. And I will always remember my whole "No. 1" group and the incessant fun we had.

Do You Remember the Time

It was the same old boring start of the day at school. What I had to do the whole day was to pretend to study for the coming examinations for 12th standard. And following the same monotonous routine for the last one month, I was desperately looking for a break. Today I had opened my Physics textbook and was pondering over some tough numerical problem. I was just wishing to get over this 12th standard and subsequent nightmares as soon as possible.

As I was trying hard to stay awake at my desk, I saw Briju entering the classroom with a huge grin on his face. "What is he happy about? Does he bloody know the solution of the problem on which I'm banging my head for the last hour?", I thought. Carrying that stupid smile he came and stood by my desk. Sandy, who was sitting beside me, also got curious seeing those not-so-white teeth over our heads. I could see a lot of scribbling across his notepad showing signs of formulas and digits and lines cutting across them. I was sure he was having the same thoughts as mine. Whatever Briju was about to blurt out, it better be something useful.

"Out with it.", Sandy said with some irritation.

Briju stated loudly for the whole classroom to hear. "Good News, guys and gals. Our respected principal and vice-principal, both are on leave today.", he said.

"You are kidding, right?", said Sidhu as he turned around from the front bench.

"Princi and Vic-princi both? Hurrah!" was the reaction of Simi from somewhere at the back of the class.

Suddenly there were whispering and murmuring in the whole class and a look of happiness across each face.

"Shhhhhhh", came the voice. It was Dutta, our class leader, as he also entered the room. "C'mon guys, don't make so much noise yaar.", he said as he came straight to our desk. "I concur the news", were his next words. Suddenly, all the tension of the Physics problem vaporized from my mind and I think from Sandy's mind too. Sidhu was also more than excited. Everybody was thinking about the ways to make most out of the opportunity.

"Don't waste your energy, I already have a plan", said our class leader. "I have brought my bike today. Nitin is on leave today and most probably listening to MJ at home. Both of his parents are out for work. We can hang out at his place for rest of the day. All I need are two more volunteers with me as I can carry maximum two pillions on my bike.", he hushed.

"Hey, no way. Its too risky. Anyways, even if two of us come with you, we have these huge bags to carry with us. We'll definitely get caught if somebody sees us with bags just getting out of the class only.", said Sidhu adjusting his glasses like a professor.

"Arey, we will leave the bags here only and after the final bell somebody can bring them outside. We will wait at the gate. Without our bags, we can easily sneek out of the school through the BSF campus on the bike.", explained Dutta.

"Not a bad idea, but I'm backing out. I am going to stay in class and have fun here. I will bring the bags out for you. Best of luck and have fun", Briju declared and he went to the back of the class and started chatting with Simi.

"OK. That is one man out. Now who amongst three of you would like to have the pleasure of riding on my bike", Dutta asked looking at me, Sandy and Sidhu.

I surely wanted to go out and refresh myself. But on the other hand I was scared of being caught. I was surely in the good books of Princi and I didn't want to ruin it. "I can enjoy by hanging out with Briju and Simi, anyways.", were my thoughts.

"I'll come.". This was a shout from Sidhu.

"I don't know". This was a low whisper from Sandy.

I was hoping that Sandy was definitely going to say yes. "I am really scared about the prelims next week, and I am not even half-prepared. I need to study hard.", continued Sandy. As he finished his last sentence, three pair of eyes were gazing at him with utter astonishment. Bewildered, he said "What? I'm serious. Now buzz off three of you and let me solve this problem".

With Sandy out of the game, reluctantly, I was in. Although I didn't want to and I expressed my resentment.

"Why don't you guys continue? I think I'll prefer to stay here and may be help Sandy in his problem", I said hoping that they will agree.

"O c'mon yaar. We won't get this opportunity again. We will have fun.", was Sidhu's response.

"Yes! And we will check out some girls also on the way. Remember the girls school near Nitin's home", said Dutta quirking one of his brow .

"What the hell. Lets go", I shouted.

As it was the first period of the day, everybody was in class. It was easy for us to come out of the main building without anyone noticing us. Even if anybody had seen us, he wouldn't have bothered as we were the senior most students and we had this much of unrestricted movement across the building. Coming out of building we reached the bike parking. Now came the most risky part that was getting out of school campus. The main gate was out of question, as it is always closed during school hours with a guard outside. But we had three more escape routes. Our school was conveniently connected to BSF campus which had its own entry/exit gates. All we have to do was to drive the bike on the one kilometer road between school and campus without being noticed. Once inside campus, we were safe.

The three of us got onto the bike and somehow fitted on the seat. As we started out, I spotted that some junior class was out on field with the sports instructor. Now he was a strict fellow. But it was too late. Dutta had already raced his bike to full speed towards the campus. I crossed my fingers as I hung precariously on the bike behind Sidhu. He stopped it as soon as we entered the campus out of sight of school.

"Phew! that was a close call", said Dutta as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Lets continue".

The rest of the journey was piece of cake. Although, I was in constant fear that some wicked road bump will throw me from the bike and onto the road. There were bumps but somehow I held on to the bike. Finally, we reached Nitin's place after half-an-hour of a joyride across Jammu roads. As we entered, we could hear MJ playing on his stereo.

"Do you remember the time ... "

Nitin came out listening to the door bell. As he saw us he was surprised and confused. "Hey, you guys. You too skipped the school today. No, but you are in school uniform. And it is not 2 o'clock yet. Has the school closed early today? But where are your bags? I'm confused.", was his reaction. There was a simultaneous burst of laughter from three of us as we saw the puzzled look on his face.

"Guess what. We bunked the school today.", explained Sidhu.

"Princi and Vice-princi didn't come today. So we thought why not get out of that hell and surprise this little friends of ours.", I added.

"That is so exciting. So you already got a taste of bunking before the college. Good and welcome to my dwelling. What can I do for you?", replied Nitin.

"Lets play cricket outside in your garden. It is beautiful weather outside", suggested Dutta.

It was indeed very pleasant weather. These were the post-winter days, when Jammu recieves a little bit of rain. It was a cloudy day and perfect for playing cricket. So we grabbed the cricket gear and started playing.

I was having fun now, playing cricket after many days. We played match after match in the cloudy, slight cold weather. And MJ was playing with full blast in the background.

Suddenly, Sidhu said, "Hey! There is a hot babe coming this way".

He was looking over the gate towards the approaching road. Instantaneously, the bat and ball were on the ground and everybody reached for gate to look outside.

"That is some chic!", said Dutta.

"Beautiful!", said me.

"I can't see. Help me.", said Nitin. Being the smallest in our group he couldn't reach over the gate. Everybody ignored him and kept looking outside.

"Hey, she is coming over this side", pointed out Sidhu as he climbed down the gate. "O shit!". Everybody jumped down and nitin got the view of the road outside.

"A**h***s, that is my sister.", was his immediate reaction. That was the second time in the day, a simultaneous burst of laughter came from three of us on seeing the infuriated look on Nitin's face. I was literally rolling on the grass. Somehow, we controlled laughter and greeted his sister till the time she went inside. "You are pathetic.", said Nitin more infuriated.

"I guess we should better take off.", said Dutta.

"But its only 12 o'clock. It is still two hours before Briju come out with our bags.", exclaimed me.

"Don't worry. We will play more cricket at one of my friend's place.", he replied. So this was some school-bunking-bike-riding-cricket-playing day.

At 1:30 we started back towards school. Everybody was quiet during the ride back. We had fun, but now we were wishing that everything has gone right inside the school. Such a good day should have a good ending too. We parked the bike at some distance from the gate. Still, there were 10 minutes before everybody comes out. As I heard the bell ringing inside, my heart started beating 100 times faster. People started coming out of front gate and our eager eyes were searching familiar faces of Briju, Simi or Sandy carrying our bags.

And I saw it. Briju was coming out, again with a stupid grin across his face. "He is happy. That is good news. Seems like everything has gone just fine.", I said to myself. "But wait a minute, there are no bags with him.", was my next sentence. Sidhu and Dutta had the same scared looks in their eyes.

"Guys, you are screwed!", was Brijesh's first word when he reached us.

I felt as if some thuderbolt has struck me. I couldn't speak or hear anything for next few minutes. All I could hear was some murmur going between rest of them. After few minutes of total black-out I regained my senses.
"What happened?", was my immediate question.

"Apparently, our dear friend Briju screwed everything. He made it too obvious that there were three extra bags lying in the classroom. He didn't even bother to hide them somewhere. And as one of the teachers started interrogating him , he blurted out everything. Now our bags are locked up inside", said Dutta in an angry voice.

"Hey, I had to save my own ass. I couldn't help it", explained Briju.

I asked "By the way, who is the teacher who caught us?".

"That is the good part. The teacher is Mr. Chikara, our physics teacher. And nobody else knows about it. He has asked me to tell you that you should visit him", he replied.

"What should we do then? Should we visit him?", inquired Dutta from everyone of us.

Nobody had an answer. We were thinking about the matter at hand, when Sandy joined us. "I can help you guys", he said. "Just go to his house at once, apologize and explain".

"Explain what? That were out playing cricket the whole day while the prelims are starting the next week", I said.

"No. Of course not. I have a better idea. You do remember about the physics project that we have to submit during the final examinations?",asked Sandy. We nodded in agreement. "Well! Just say that you were behind schedule and had to go to the city just to get the materials for the same". He smiled triumphantly after bolting out his brilliant idea.

We liked it instantaneously. After deciding all the details about this lie, we started towards Mr. Chikara's house. As we were walking to the house, I smiled at the irony of the situation. In the morning I was stuck over a minor Physics problem and now I had to deal with the teacher of the same subject with a somewhat bigger problem. Sidhu frowned as he saw me smiling to myself. I replied to his frown with another frown. Seeing us frowning each other, Dutta also joined the frowning game. And for the third time in the day, a simultaneous burst of laughter came from the three of us.

But that laughter and cheerfulness died as after 15 minutes we were sitting in Mr. Chikara's living room and getting scolded by him. We had already given him the reason for our absence from school. He was amused yet angry after hearing it and what started afterwards lasted for about half-an-hour. He kept lecturing us on and on and on.

"I didn't expect this, especially, from the three of you. You are amongst the brightest students of my class. Don't expect me to believe the excuse that you gave me. If the Principal was in school today, you would have been in really great trouble". These were constant repeated sentences of this lecture and we just kept saying "Sorry Sir" again and again.

Finally after half-an-hour of torture he said "I'm letting you go this time. But trust me if something like this happens again, your future will be totally ruined. Because, you will be out of the school the next second".

We couldn't believe our ears. A smile spread across each face that was sitting on the sofa in Mr. Chikara's living room that evening. "Thank you Sir. Thank you so much", were the only words each one of us said in response.

"That is OK. Now, off the record, tell me where were you?", he asked smiling. Dutta explained the whole story to him while myself and Sidhu were just anxious to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Now go to your home but you will get your bags only in the morning because they are locked in the Physics lab".

We came out and for the fourth and last time, a simultaneous burst of laughter came from three of us. "Come, I'll drop both of you", said Dutta and we started walking towards the bike singing the MJ song.

""Do you remember the time..."

NFS Carbon

This game is superbly fantastic. I have just bought Sony PS2 and I can't stop myself playing "Need for Speed Carbon" on it. Rated as the best racing games of 2006, it doesn't allow you to leave the console. I remember I used to play NFS 2 on my PC few years back. And I must admit that gaming technology has improved more than ten times since then. The graphics of NFS Carbon are simply amazing. And the best feature of this game is the Career mode. In this mode you have to win one race after other and keep aquiring territories until you are the king of all the streets. Based on a fictitious city called Palmont City, it gives you option of so many different types of races. You can never get tired of playing it. In addition to it, the autosculpt area where you can customize your car to give it new looks is too good. Its just like DC motors transform your Maruti 800 to a head-turner machine. I only wish that those cars get real and are parked in my garage. But even if it would have happend, I don't live in Palmont City where I can drive them at the speed of wind. I have to satisfy myself with my 150 CC bike in this city of Mumbai.

The Proposal

Girl: Where are we going?
Boy: Just hold on. You will come to know in another one hour.
It was her 24th birthday but it was the first with him. Both of them were hoping to make this some day to remember. And he had planned something that would totally get her by surprise and make her so happy.

Girl: I love you.
Boy: I love you too.

Not even six months had passed since they first met. Although it was not love at first sight but it can be termed as love at third date. Everything happened very fast and before they knew they were totally into each other.

Boy: What are you thinking?
Girl: Nothing! Just that how upset you were when you heard that my friend is also landing today.
Boy: Yeah! I was. Actually, I wanted this night to be very special with just me and you. An alien with us would have been a major upset. But I'm glad you came up with such a good excuse to get
rid of him.
Girl: I had to. I wanted just you to be the first one to wish me Happy Birthday and no one else.
Boy: I know.

They crossed the toll plaza and out of the city limits.
Boy: Haven't you guessed yet?
Girl: No. May be if we go a little farther.
Boy: This damn traffic is slowing us down. I want to reach there before the clock strucks twelve
but it seems like we have to celebrate your birthday on the way.
Girl: Doesn't matter. All that matter is that we will be together.
She looked into his eyes and found love. He looked into her eyes and found love.

Girl: Are we going to Lonavala?
They had just left the highway and got on the expressway. This was a straight hint to her.
Boy: Yes we are. I thought it will be perfect place for your birthday celebrations. I know a spot over there which will be totally surrounded by clouds in this season. And the town lights shining below. It is so beautiful sight.
Girl: WOW! Now I'm excited to reach there.
Boy: Just sit back, relax and listen to this good music while I drive you there.

But the day changed while they were still on the way. He was disappointed but anyways they will go there. But first it was time to wish her. So he stopped the car.
Boy: Happy Birthday Darling!
Girl: Thank you so much my love.
They hugged and kissed each other.
Before he started the engine again he just lowered his hand on side of his seat to check the surprise. It was there, safe and secure. He started driving towards Lonavala. It will be another 45 minutes from there.

Girl: So what is the plan once we reach there?
Boy: My plan was to wish you and kiss you up at that romantic spot. But doing it on expressway with vehicles speeding past was no less thrilling. We will go there anyways. We have got full night to kill. Haven't we?
Girl: Of course and after that the full day too.
Boy: Yes!

They reached Lonavala at around 1 o'clock.
Boy: That spot is another half-an-hour uphill drive from here. You will love it.
Girl: Hmmmmmm

But they never reached that spot. There were so thick clouds on the uphill road that the visibility was nearly zero. So they had to turn back. Now he was more disappointed. His plans had failed twice that night.
Girl: Now what?
Boy: No problem. Did you notice that small bridge while coming.
Girl: Yeah. The bridge that had glowing reflectors in middle of road giving it an appearance of airport runway.
Boy: We will go there. What do you say?
Girl: Perfect!
Boy: Then you can change in the car and show me the new dress that you have bought.
Girl: Absolutely perfect!

The bridge was exactly as she had described. With no sound, no people around it was a good spot for him too to give her the surprise gift which he had been hiding beneath his seat all the way.
Girl: OK! You go outside and wait for me while I change into my new dress.
Boy: Okie Dokie. Make it fast.

As he climbed down the car he carefully took out the surprise and hid it before she could notice. He walked a few paces in front of the car and waited impatiently for her to come out. He opened
the little box and saw that little shining surprise. She will definitely like it.
Girl: OK. I'm ready. You can turn around now.
Boy: Why don't you walk towards me while I turn around?
Girl: OK. I'm coming.

When she had come quite close to him, he turned around keeping one hand behind his back. For few moments he forgot about the thing in his hand. She was looking georgeous.
Boy: WoW! Someone is looking hot.
Girl: Thank you. Now come here and give me a kiss.
Boy: I will. But first......

He brought his other hand in the front and raised it as he got down to his knees. She saw that
shining surprise and knew it was a ring and what it is for.
Girl: Oh my god! Oh my god!
Boy: Will you marry this idiot?
Girl: Yes Yes Yes.
And she kissed him, kissed him, kissed him ............